official_pokelandfandomcom-20200214-history
Knoxville, Tennessee
Knoxville is a city in and the county seat of Knox County, Tennessee. With a population of 178,874, it is the largest city in East Tennessee and the third largest in the state, and served as Tennessee's first capital from 1796 to 1812, when it was moved to Nashville. Knoxville is the home of the flagship campus of the University of Tennessee, whose sports teams, called the "Volunteers" or "Vols", are extremely popular in the surrounding area. It is also home to the headquarters of the Tennessee Valley Authority, the Tennessee Supreme Court's courthouse for East Tennessee and the corporate headquarters of several national and regional companies. As one of the largest cities in the Appalachian region, Knoxville has positioned itself in recent years as a repository of Appalachian culture and is one of the gateways to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Demographics As of the 2010 U.S. Census, the racial composition of the city is: 72.69% White (130,023) 17.94% Black or African American (32,089) 5.31% Hispanic or Latino (9,498) 4.06% Other (7,264) 24.5% (43,824) of Knoxville residents live below the poverty line, a good bit of which are students attending the University of Tennessee. Theft rate statistics Knoxville isn't perfect, but it ranks among the safest big cities in the South as far as theft and murder rates go. The city reported 33 Pokemon thefts in 2018, and averages 2.46 murders a year. Pokemon See the Knox County page for more info. Fun facts * During the Civil War, the city was bitterly divided over the secession issue, and was occupied alternately by both Confederate and Union armies. Following the war, Knoxville grew rapidly as a major wholesaling and manufacturing center. The city's economy stagnated after the 1920's as the manufacturing sector collapsed, the downtown area declined and city leaders became entrenched in highly partisan political fights. Hosting the 1982 World's Fair helped reinvigorate the city, and revitalization initiatives by city leaders and private developers have had major successes in spurring growth in the city, especially the downtown area. * In 1948, the soft drink Mountain Dew was first marketed in Knoxville, originally designed as a mixer for whiskey. Around the same time, John Gunther dubbed Knoxville the "ugliest city" in America in his best-selling book Inside U.S.A. Gunther's description jolted the city into enacting a series of beautification measures that helped improve the appearance of the Downtown area. * Knoxville's reliance on a manufacturing economy left it particularly vulnerable to the effects of the Great Depression. The Tennessee Valley also suffered from frequent flooding, and millions of acres of farmland had been ruined by soil erosion. To control flooding and improve the economy in the Tennessee Valley, the federal government created the Tennessee Valley Authority in 1933. Beginning with Norris Dam, TVA constructed a series of hydroelectric and other power plants throughout the valley over the next few decades, bringing flood control, jobs, and electricity to the region. The Federal Works Projects Administration, which also arrived in the 1930's, helped build McGhee-Tyson Airport and expand Neyland Stadium. TVA's headquarters, which consists of two twin high rises built in the 1970's, were among Knoxville's first modern high-rise buildings. * In July 1861, after Tennessee had joined the Confederacy, General Felix Zollicoffer arrived in Knoxville as commander of the District of East Tennessee. While initially lenient toward the city's Union sympathizers, Zollicoffer instituted martial law in November, after pro-Union guerrillas burned seven of the city's bridges. The command of the district passed briefly to George Crittenden and then to Kirby Smith, who launched an unsuccessful invasion of Kentucky in August 1862. In early 1863, General Simon Buckner took command of Confederate forces in Knoxville. Anticipating a Union invasion, Buckner fortified Fort Loudon (in West Knoxville, not to be confused with the colonial fort to the southwest) and began constructing earthworks throughout the city. However, the approach of stronger Union forces under Ambrose Burnside in the summer of 1863 forced Buckner to evacuate Knoxville before the earthworks were completed. Burnside arrived in early September 1863. Like the Confederates, he immediately began fortifying the city. The Union forces rebuilt Fort Loudon and erected 12 other forts and batteries flanked by entrenchments around the city. Burnside moved a pontoon bridge upstream from Loudon, allowing Union forces to cross the river and build a series of forts along the heights of South Knoxville, including Fort Stanley and Fort Dickerson. As Burnside was fortifying Knoxville, the Confederate army defeated the Union forces at the Battle of Chickamauga (near the Tennessee-Georgia line) and laid siege to Chattanooga. On November 3, 1863, the Confederates sent General James Longstreet to attack Burnside at Knoxville. Longstreet wanted to attack the city from the south, but lacking the necessary pontoon bridges, he was forced to cross the river further downstream at Loudon (November 14) and march against the city's heavily fortified western section. On November 15, General Joseph Wheeler unsuccessfully attempted to dislodge Union forces in the heights of South Knoxville, and the following day Longstreet failed to cut off retreating Union forces at Campbell's Station (now Farragut). On November 18, Union General William P. Sanders was mortally wounded while conducting delaying maneuvers west of Knoxville, and Fort Loudon was renamed Fort Sanders in his honor. On November 29, following a two-week siege, the Confederates attacked Fort Sanders, but failed after a fierce 20-minute engagement. On December 4, after word of the Confederate setback at Chattanooga reached Longstreet, he abandoned his attempts to capture Knoxville and went into winter quarters at Russellville. He rejoined the Army of Northern Virginia the following Spring. * Knoxville has no shortage of amenities to offer. About every big retail name, chain restaurant and fast food place in this area you could name, along with no shortage of local restaurants and businesses, Downtown Island Airport (reliver for McGhee Tyson in Alcoa), a zoo, plenty of golf courses along with a few country clubs, East Tennessee Battle Academy, plenty of public battle fields, a contest hall complex and showcase theater complex, some sports complexes, Solstice Apparel, plenty of car dealerships and auto parts places, University Medical Center, East Tennessee Pokemon Hospital, Knoxville College, plenty of shopping centers, Knoxville Center, some Pilots, a TA truck stop, the Tennessee Grass-Type Museum, and some other things. * Knoxville is the birthplace of Johnny Knoxville himself, along with Quentin Tarantino, and a lot of country musicians (Roy Acuff, Kenny Chesney and Chet Atkins to name a few). Category:Tennessee Cities